The Seven Principles of Presentation Disaster Avoidance (Version 0.1 beta)

Seven small steps down the path leading to presentation doom

“giving presentations with morning sickness”

Bookmarked: Conference Humiliation: They’re Tweeting Behind Your Back (The Chronicle of Higher Edu
Conference Humiliation: They’re Tweeting Behind Your Back (The Chronicle of Higher Education) – "Perfect conditions propelled this Twitter torrent: a speaker who delivered what was apparently a technically flawed and topically dated talk to a crowd of Web experts who expected better. They reacted by flaying him with more than 500 tweets in one hour. The onslaught grew so large that it went viral—live. The conference became one of the most popular topics on Twitter, meaning strangers with no connection to the meeting gaped at Mr. Galper's humiliation when they logged onto their home pages.

Bookmarked: Cut off after 2 minutes (Speaking Energy: Adventures in Public Speaking)
Cut off after 2 minutes (Speaking Energy: Adventures in Public Speaking) – "In the smaller room there are a lot more distractions as well. If my audience of one decides to do something else besides listen…well, my presentation just got a lot more difficult — and energy depleting. … The person I was speaking to (or trying to) had just come out of a high stress meeting an hour before I met him. He had a lot on his mind. Very distracted. One of the first points I raised was something similar to an issue he recently had. This set him off."

Bookmarked: The First Slide in Your PowerPoint/Keynote Presentation (Tod Maffin)
The First Slide in Your PowerPoint/Keynote Presentation (Tod Maffin) – "About four years ago while giving a keynote presentation about leading 'the Facebook generation' in the workplace, disaster struck. I was about mid-way through the speech, talking about new models for employee benefit plans, when the following popped up on the screen — in front of 2,200 people…" [Yes, it's pretty much as embarrassing as you're imagining. Tod offers a really clever solution. Thank for the heads up tweet @OliviaMitchell.] Sharing:

Bookmarked: You Must Have a Good Sound System (Great Public Speaking)
You Must Have a Good Sound System (Great Public Speaking) – "A humorous speech demands a better sound system than a serious speech. In a serious talk, words can be missed and the main message can still be very clear. In humor it doesn't work that way. If key words are missed in a joke or story, it will ruin the humor. No one will laugh and you will look like a giant goober. The need for a thorough sound check is another good reason to be in the room early. You need t

Bookmarked: All eyes on you — as you choke (Crain’s Chicago Business)
All eyes on you — as you choke (Crain’s Chicago Business) – "But sometimes, getting past a disaster of a presentation can be freeing. One of Mr. Connellan's clients, an executive from a very large company, was asked to update 2,000 people at a conference. She was ready for the performance but froze when she got up to the podium. She fainted with her hands gripping the lectern, pulling it on top of her, and had to be carried offstage." Sharing: